Ted Haggard to Host Prayer Gathering

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Disgraced church leader Ted Haggard will be holding a gathering of a dozen or so people in his living room next week as part of an effort to connect with friends and help people.

The gathering, scheduled for next Thursday evening, is being referred to by Haggard as a "prayer meeting" but could be called a church, according to his statement to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Though Haggard's latest move has raised eyebrows, the former megachurch leader says he has no intention to do what he had done with New Life Church, which started from his basement and grew to become one of the nation's most prominent churches.

While he says his focus before was on the Great Commission, Haggard says his aim now is to help other people.

During next Thursday's gathering, Haggard will talk about the power of prayer and an offering will be collected for New Life Church. There will also be music.

"It's an exploratory meeting," Haggard told The Denver Post. "We need a core team to relate to as a spiritual family. We expect just a handful of people, but anybody's welcome. We'll see where it goes."

Wednesday's announcement comes nearly three years after a drugs and sex scandal led to Haggard's resignation from the presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals and forced him out of the church he founded.

Since then, Haggard and his family have mostly been in seclusion, coming back out over the past year to promote "The Trials of Ted Haggard," which debuted on HBO late January and aired throughout the month of February.

Haggard currently works as an insurance salesman and lives in Colorado Springs with his wife of 30 years and two of his five children. The Haggards' remaining three children are over the age of 18.